Orchids In The Moonlight
Korla Pandit At The Pipe Organ
Fantasy F-1818 8027
From the back cover: SURELY NO ONE on the "Fantasy" label is more closely linked to that word than Korla Pandit. A set of curious circumstances first brought him to my attention several years ago in Hollywood-where all the fantastic and curious people eventually turn up. I was walking down Sunset Boulevard on a wet evening before Christmas. In between a funeral parlor and a hamburger stand which featured something called "Fun On A Bun" a large crowd of people had gathered to watch a television screen in an appliance shop window.
With a few noticeable exceptions they were all ladies, immobile and mute, hypnotized by a young man playing the organ on a television screen. He was wearing a white turban with a bright jewel in the front that bounced gently against his brown forehead as he played.
On his face was the merest suggestion of a smile-a combination of Sabu and the Mona Lisa.
Behind him incense smoked in long wisps and superimposed across the screen were the words "Korla Pandit." It was obvious that the gentleman in the turban was adored by the on-lookers because as he smiled into the television cameras, his audience smiled right back at him.
"He's the most soothing person on television," volunteered one of the ladies without taking her eyes off the screen. And it's quite possible that the lady was right.
This fascinating young musician played his special Christmas pro- gram which consisted of "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells" and several other old Indian folk tunes without altering his smile. Part way through the program the cool night winds began to blow off the Hollywood Hills and the ladies stamped their feet to keep the circulation going. But no one left.
After the carolling had stopped and the incense had cleared away, Pandit was nothing more than a melodic memory, but the ladies con- tinued to stare at the blank screen until a singing commercial for little liver pills jarred them back into the harsh reality of the neon-lighted world of the Sunset Strip.
"He's a real experience," sighed one woman as she lifted her shop- ping bags and walked off into the night.
Later I learned that there were little groups like this standing in front of television sets everywhere in Los Angeles. It was apparent that Korla Pandit was the most hypnotic personality to hit Southern Cali- fornia since Aimee MacPherson set up camp there in the Twenties.
And he did it all without opening his mouth!
Months afterward when I finally met Pandit in San Francisco, I found the same quiet lad with the exotic features who had kept the viewers spellbound on a stormy night on Sunset Boulevard. But I also discovered a modest and sincere young musician who is concerned with something bigger than merely playing organ music. He is interested in what it is saying, for, as he expressed it, "Music speaks the great inter- national language."
Pandit is seen in many cities across the country in a syndicated film series made for television many years ago. It is currently showing in Boston, in Florida, and in Milwaukee where it won a television popularity poll.
"The only way I find out about it is when the mail begins to come in from a new town," said Pandit.
Recently he discovered that his international language of music is now being spoken in Japanese television stations. He learned about it when he received a letter from a Japanese girl which said, simply and sincerely:
"You have fan in Japan."
Pandit's first album for Fantasy featured the music of Europe and America. His most recent one, "Music of the Exotic East" was full of the pageantry of the East suggesting silks of shimmering colors and fountains playing in hidden courtyards.
Latin Holiday, his third Fantasy album, continues his international journey into the Latin countries. There is actually nothing incongruous about a turbanned Indian playing Mexican folk music on a California pipe organ because his is an international language.
Korla Pandit is now living in the San Francisco Bay Area where he recently completed another television series. For those who may wonder, the jewel on the turban still bounces gently from his brown fore- head and the fans still stand three deep at the TV store windows whenever he appears. Even on stormy nights. – TERRENCE O'FLAHERTY
With a few noticeable exceptions they were all ladies, immobile and mute, hypnotized by a young man playing the organ on a television screen. He was wearing a white turban with a bright jewel in the front that bounced gently against his brown forehead as he played.
On his face was the merest suggestion of a smile-a combination of Sabu and the Mona Lisa.
Behind him incense smoked in long wisps and superimposed across the screen were the words "Korla Pandit." It was obvious that the gentleman in the turban was adored by the on-lookers because as he smiled into the television cameras, his audience smiled right back at him.
"He's the most soothing person on television," volunteered one of the ladies without taking her eyes off the screen. And it's quite possible that the lady was right.
This fascinating young musician played his special Christmas pro- gram which consisted of "Silent Night," "Jingle Bells" and several other old Indian folk tunes without altering his smile. Part way through the program the cool night winds began to blow off the Hollywood Hills and the ladies stamped their feet to keep the circulation going. But no one left.
After the carolling had stopped and the incense had cleared away, Pandit was nothing more than a melodic memory, but the ladies con- tinued to stare at the blank screen until a singing commercial for little liver pills jarred them back into the harsh reality of the neon-lighted world of the Sunset Strip.
"He's a real experience," sighed one woman as she lifted her shop- ping bags and walked off into the night.
Later I learned that there were little groups like this standing in front of television sets everywhere in Los Angeles. It was apparent that Korla Pandit was the most hypnotic personality to hit Southern Cali- fornia since Aimee MacPherson set up camp there in the Twenties.
And he did it all without opening his mouth!
Months afterward when I finally met Pandit in San Francisco, I found the same quiet lad with the exotic features who had kept the viewers spellbound on a stormy night on Sunset Boulevard. But I also discovered a modest and sincere young musician who is concerned with something bigger than merely playing organ music. He is interested in what it is saying, for, as he expressed it, "Music speaks the great inter- national language."
Pandit is seen in many cities across the country in a syndicated film series made for television many years ago. It is currently showing in Boston, in Florida, and in Milwaukee where it won a television popularity poll.
"The only way I find out about it is when the mail begins to come in from a new town," said Pandit.
Recently he discovered that his international language of music is now being spoken in Japanese television stations. He learned about it when he received a letter from a Japanese girl which said, simply and sincerely:
"You have fan in Japan."
Pandit's first album for Fantasy featured the music of Europe and America. His most recent one, "Music of the Exotic East" was full of the pageantry of the East suggesting silks of shimmering colors and fountains playing in hidden courtyards.
Latin Holiday, his third Fantasy album, continues his international journey into the Latin countries. There is actually nothing incongruous about a turbanned Indian playing Mexican folk music on a California pipe organ because his is an international language.
Korla Pandit is now living in the San Francisco Bay Area where he recently completed another television series. For those who may wonder, the jewel on the turban still bounces gently from his brown fore- head and the fans still stand three deep at the TV store windows whenever he appears. Even on stormy nights. – TERRENCE O'FLAHERTY
About Korla Pandit
The professional career of Korla Pandit has been a suc- cession of impressive "firsts" in concert and television presentations, nationally as well as locally, in Hollywood and New York. He is responsible for several innovations in organ construction and intepretation, including Indian drum and percussive effects previously untried. His greatest success has been in television (Mr. Pandit gave the first all-musical TV program in Hollywood in 1949), and his one-hour weekly show in California won countless admirers and many awards. He has performed, too, in churches and temples on numerous occasions.
"Music may not save your soul, but it will
Cause your soul to be worth saving."
Espana
No Me Quiero Tantos
Festival Of Flowers
Orchids In The Moonlight
Estrillita
Granada
La Comparsita
It Happened In Monterey
Las Manzanitas
Besame Mucho
Maria Bonita
Joyful Tango
Love the Pandit clips. I find it all a little creepy! I think that's why I like it so much! ha!
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